Rip out the Front Page: Breaking News! Journalism isn't Neutral Says Professor

I mean, really?  Did we really need someone to tell us that the "news" we receive isn't neutral? Despite the claims of shows and networks to have "No Bias, No Bull" and be "Fair and Balanced" the opposite is true. This goes for both right and left media.  As Pierre Bourdieu tells us in his fantastic book On Television

"It explains why real information, analysis, in-depth interviews, expert discussions, and serious documentaries lose out to pure entertainment and, in particular, mindless talk show chatter between 'approved' and interchangeable speakers."

 Part of the problem is our celebrity culture whereby we care a whole lot more about Sandra Bullock than we do about the war in Iraq.  Another part of the problem is that the media show us stories that confirm (and conform) to their outlook on the world.  Witness the way the media almost completely ignored the floods in Nashville last week.  I think there was a bit of a racial component to the lack of coverage of the floods.  In other words, there was not a group of brown faces either looting or pleading with the white savior to come and save them (Unlike the 'round the clock coverage of Haiti). It can be argued that the Haiti disaster allowed Americans to look heroic and compassionate while indicting and framing black and brown people as being ill-equipped to help themselves and as looters.  




Their defense is that they were "busy" covering the oil spill and the stock market. How is it that a 24-hour news channel, like CNN, Fox News or CNBC doesn't have time within a 24-hour period to cover something like a major flood?